


Goodnight

by Senei



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied Sexual Content, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-18
Updated: 2013-02-18
Packaged: 2017-11-29 19:55:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/690828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Senei/pseuds/Senei
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Data questions his "humanity" before bed, and Riker is annoyed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goodnight

**Author's Note:**

> First up, this started out as a crack-ship that got way out of hand. This was the second bit I wrote with them. It's short and silly, I'm still getting the hang of writing the characters, and I apologize for my OOC Riker. 
> 
> If you don't like this ship, fine. But if you do, we're calling it Rita (or Ten Second Head Start).

It was quiet on the USS Enterprise. Most of the civilian passengers were asleep, and the sound-proof quarters were a blessing. They even managed to minimize engine noise to aid their occupants in getting some rest.

Commander Riker was lying on his back in bed. His arms were behind his head and under his pillow, propping himself up a bit. Blankets casually pulled up to his navel. They would normally be pulled up higher, but the other occupant of the bed was still awake and was sitting up.

Data was flipping through a book. Something odd for the android to do, but he had never read it before and needed to commit it to memory. He was reading slower than usual, trying to ease into what he thought was a more normal before-bed routine. Reading before bed was something people did, and when you could speed through a book this thick in under five minutes, it generally did not lend to this custom. So he processed each word individually, keeping up a reading pace that was still fast, but something a normal human mind could manage.

He glanced down at Riker after taking a pause, not because he needed the break, but because he'd felt the commander shift his position slightly. His sensors analyzed it as annoyance. "Is something wrong?" Data asked.

"Not a thing," Riker said. He wasn't looking at Data, but up at the ceiling instead. Eyes half shut. Probably from exhaustion.

"I am sorry, I am keeping you awake." Data leaned over to put his book down on the bedside table. When he had completed this task, he felt Riker's strong arms wrap around his midsection and pull him down into the bed.

He fit snugly up against the taller man and readjusted himself so that he was not lying on top of his own arms. "I was keeping you awake."

"Mhm," Riker hummed right up against Data's ear. He could feel the vibrations from Riker's voice box up against his neck.

He smiled slightly. It was such a human thing to find small comforts in the feeling of being close to another, especially one you loved.

Love. Something he was not sure he was capable of experiencing.

"Commander," Data said after a while.

"Yes?" Again the vibration of Riker's voice box and the feeling of his breath on his ear.

"Are you not concerned by the fact that I am an android?" Data asked.

"Of course not," Riker sighed. They had been through this many times and Data was certain Riker grew tired of having to argue it each time. However, Data had never been able to answer many of the questions that still lingered in his processor.

"My emotions are programmed and not genuine, there is no certainty that I can feel love," Data said. "Do humans not want genuine emotions in their relationships? A person who can both understand them and support them on a physical and emotional level?"

Riker didn't say anything for a while. When he did speak it was slow and deliberate. "We already know you are not that average machine," he said. "I have very little doubt that you can't experience love. You just feel it differently than humans. Besides, who was it that made the first move?"

"Made the first move? Ah, yes," Data found the reference of that expression before Riker could respond. "You mean who instigated the relationship. I did, in the turbolift."

"Exactly," Riker said. "You thought you were in love with me. I didn't force you into this, so I think that's proof enough."

"I suppose," Data muttered. He still wasn't reassured. Reassured. Perhaps not the right word, but it would do. More human words had entered his vocabulary in recent weeks.

"Can we go to bed, now?" Riker asked. "Or do I need to reinforce my point with a demonstration?"

Riker's hand strayed down Data's body, resting just on his hip in a very sensual manner. It set off sensors in Data's body - ones he was not too certain as to why they had been put in him, but did not regret - and the robot emulated a shudder.

"No, that is fine," Data said. While physically and mentally he was up to engaging in sexual activity, he was not reading the proper cues he had come to recognize from Riker. He decided it would be best to not. "We may go to sleep. Well you may sleep, I will enter a sleep-like state where I-"

"Goodnight Data," Riker said, cutting him off. He rolled his eyes and kissed Data behind his ear, then settled back into the bed.

"Goodnight, Commander..." Data replied. He shifted so that he thought Riker would be more comfortable, and allowed the sleep function to turn on.


End file.
